It has been recognized that incandescent lamps are a relatively inefficient light source. However, after more than a century of development and usage, they are cheap. Also, the public is quite familiar with the form factors and light output characteristics of such lamps. Fluorescent lamps have long been a more efficient alternative to incandescent lamps. For many years, fluorescent lamps were most commonly used in commercial settings. However, recently, compact fluorescent lamps have been developed as replacements for incandescent lamps. While more efficient than incandescent lamps, compact fluorescent lamps also have some drawbacks. For example, compact fluorescent lamps utilize mercury vapor and represent an environmental hazard if broken or at time of disposal. Cheaper versions of compact fluorescent lamps also do not provide as desirable a color characteristic of light output as traditional incandescent lamps and often differ extensively from traditional lamp form factors.
As costs of energy increase along with concerns about global warming due to consumption of fossil fuels to generate energy, there is an ever increasing need for more efficient lamp technologies for general lighting applications: These demands, coupled with rapid improvements in semiconductors and related manufacturing technologies, are driving a trend in the lighting industry toward the use of light emitting diodes (LEDs) or other solid state light emitting sources to produce white light for general lighting applications, as replacements for common incandescent lamps and/or compact fluorescent lamps and other older less efficient light sources.
Thus, there is a need for lamps for general lighting applications that utilize solid state light emitting sources to effectively produce and distribute light of desired characteristics. The lamps utilize energy efficient solid state light emitters, and conform to form factors and/or use lamp base connectors of widely accepted lamp designs, such as those of common incandescent lamps and/or compact fluorescent lamps.